Saturday, 8 March 2014

Times: Straight gay ponderings

Jiena Nħobb Inti Tħobb reveals the writer’s perception of what the gay world is all about from a straight point of view. Photo: Mario Mintoff/PhotoCity

What makes a theatre production a successful one? My perspective is that it all depends on how much the production reflects what lies beyond the stage.

Amid the script’s puns and the professional acting, Jiena Nħobb Inti Tħobb efficaciously captures the gay multifaceted reality. The comical pre-objections on the production have aided to draw an intensified backing, so I convey my thanks to those involved in the dissent for making this production an even more popular one.

Each performance at the Manoel Theatre was packed and I am confident that all attendees could recognise the manifested themes of the production: the struggles of coming out, the oppressions gays face, the amplified defence mechanisms, the conflicting attitudes of the conformists and liberals and the diverse sexual behaviour by all characters.

The audience can effortlessly associate them with their own private direct histories. However, among these themes, the recurring concealed dominator is the personal inner battle for self-actualisation. Upon leaving the theatre, two thoughts kept lurking in my head which had yet to be appreciated.

My first thought draws upon the characters of the drama. They succeed in exhibiting the complex emotive (and sexual) frustrations of life. While embodying the struggles from society, they are exposing an anthropological reality: an oscillation between being victims of violence and, at the same time, agents of violence.

Such an oscillation can be seen throughout the whole drama, like the courage but also foul greed of Pierre, the handsome and, yet, shallow destructive Devine, the strong but aggressive Cynthia and so on. Every single character cannot be said to be a victim or a perpetrator. All, with the exclusion of the children, engage from these two roles.

Is this not also a factual reflection of reality which Jiena Nħobb Inti Tħobb successfully seizes? Indeed, both straight and gay yield to such manipulations as they struggle for self-actualisation.

It is Cynthia who holds the interpretive key of the whole production. She declares in the self-reflexive rhetorical device that those who view gays as elevated champions have an illusory perspective.

What a subtle trope from the producer of this drama!

We are invited to question our viewpoints concerning gays. Society has been violently messy with gay issues but it is equally true that gays can render this inherited messy condition even messier.

While making sense of our fragmented messy lives, we thirst for a healed and unitive love

The dramatic performance starts with chaotic circumstances; however, by the end of the drama, the chaos worsens.

This leads to my second view.

The production finishes with a tragedy. The witty and naive Greg dies because of a violent protest (and also because of a hot-tempered Pierre) and, surely, the arrest of Johnny and Ian isn’t the perfect serenity one looked forward to.

The act commences and finishes with so much chaos that one is faced with a direct question: where is this leading us?

Riki Anne Wilchins, an LGBT activist, states: “Deconstruction has proven a sharp weapon in the wars of thought, as it was meant to be. Yet, it has also caused confusion.”

We cannot escape this chaos but are there other matters which we are failing to notice? Are all gays in our society clothed with a deconstructive personality as portrayed in the drama? Perhaps Jiena Nħobb Inti Tħobb reveals the writer’s own understanding and perception of what the gay world is all about from a straight point of view.

The chosen title Jiena Nħobb Inti Tħobb is suitable for the production as it invites us to consider a fragmented notion of love. This is our reality for gays and straight alike. While making sense of our fragmented messy lives, we thirst for a healed and unitive love. In some ways, this is a phenomenon that renders gays equal to straight.

Maltese Gender Identity Law [Transgender / Intersex]

Civil Unions Parliamentary Debate and Vote

Note: The Civil Unions Bill [20/2014] has successfully passed through the Maltese Parliament with 37 votes in favour, 30 absentions and 0 votes against on the 14th April 2014. It gives the same rights and obbligations to same-sex couples as those who are registered in a civil marriage (mutatis mutandis).